Persistent thieves pinch kilometre of cabling from railway

The cable thieves have now accumulated around a 1,000 metres of the valuable cabling, said British Transport Police, having stolen around 250 metres on each occasion.

Officers said: "Thieves targeted the railway line close to Craggs Industrial Estate for the forth time in the past month.

"Approximately 250 meters of cable was stolen from the line on 16 February. The same amount of cable was stolen from the same location on 18 and 30 January, and 6 February.

PC Richard Bailey added: “We believe a hacksaw was used to cut up the cable before it was stolen which is extremely dangerous. So far the damages have been estimated to cost the rail industry more than £5,000.

“I am keen to hear from local residents and anyone else who may have any information about the thefts. Were you in the area on the dates in question? Did you see anything suspicious? Were there any people or vehicles in the area that you have not seen before? If you have any information, however trivial it may seem, please get in touch with BTP.”

Anyone with information should please call British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40, or text 61016, quoting reference quoting ref. 325 of 16/ 2. Alternatively, information can be passed to the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Network Rail which owns the track said the stolen cabling was used for signalling and caused some disruption to signals on that stretch."

A spokesman said: "There has been some disruption to signalling. When the cabling is removed it cuts out the lights and when drivers see a black light they have no choice but to brake.

"We have had to pay £5,000 to replace the cabling and to repay passengers for delays to their train services."